"It matters nothing what your father signed, you are the heir of entail.

But your uncle is a man to fight the indefensible; and it would be likely your identity that he would call in question.

A lawsuit is always expensive, and a family lawsuit always scandalous; besides which, if any of your doings with your friend Mr.Thomson were to come out, we might find that we had burned our fingers.

The kidnapping, to be sure, would be a court card upon our side, if we could only prove it.

But it may be difficult to prove; and my advice (upon the whole) is to make a very easy bargain with your uncle, perhaps even leaving him at Shaws where he has taken root for a quarter of a century, and contenting yourself in the meanwhile with a fair provision." I told him I was very willing to be easy, and that to carry family concerns before the public was a step from which I was naturally much averse.